Digital cameras have become ubiquitous consumer products. In fact, digital cameras have now been incorporated into other consumer products, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistance (PDA) devices. Some of the reasons for this wide use of digital cameras include lower operating cost (no films required), instant review of captured images, ease of digital image processing and ease of image distribution via the Internet. However, digital cameras have challenges similar to conventional film cameras, such as capturing image in low lighting conditions.
There are a number of techniques available when capturing an image of a scene of interest in a low lighting condition using a digital camera. One technique is to use an electronic flash to brighten the scene of interest. This technique works well when taking a picture of a nearly subject, such as a person in close proximity to the camera. However, the use of a flash of light is intrusive and inappropriate in certain situations.
Another technique to capture an image of a scene of interest in a low lighting condition is to use a long exposure time to capture the image so that enough light can be received by the camera to produce a proper image of a scene of interest. However, the long exposure time subjects the camera to movements caused by the unsteadiness of the person taking the picture. Thus, it is common for the resulting image to appear blurry, which significantly degrades the quality of the captured image.
Another technique to capture an image of a scene of interest in a low lighting condition is to use an infrared flash to illuminate the scene of interest with a flash of infrared light. Using a flash of infrared light eliminates the need for a long exposure time to capture an image in a low lighting condition. Thus, using a flash of infrared light can significantly improve the image quality of the captured image. Furthermore, since infrared light cannot be seen, using a flash of infrared light is not intrusive as a flash of visible light. However, these advantages come with a price since the resulting image using a flash of infrared light will be monochromatic.
In view of these concerns, what is needed is a device and method for capturing a high-quality color image of a scene of interest in a low lighting condition without using an intrusive flash of visible light.